2005-06-20
NEWS BLIP
Jesse Helms regrets where he stood on AIDS funding | "I was wrong," he said in an upcoming book about his outspoken opposition to laws that provided AIDS funding during his tenure in the United States Senate |
In the new memoir, “Here’s Where I Stand,” due out Aug. 30, the 83-year-old Republican who retired in 2003 after five terms, explains that his thoughts on the AIDS epidemic began to evolve during his final years in office |
“It had been my feeling that AIDS was a disease largely spread by reckless and voluntary sexual and drug-abusing behavior and that it would probably be confined to those in high risk populations. I was wrong,” he writes in the new book | Says Helms now, “I know of no more heartbreaking tragedy in the world today than the loss of so many young people to a virus that could be stopped if we simply provide more resources” | In an editorial he wrote for the Washington Post three years ago, Helms asked for an additional $500 million in aid money to help initiate preventative care in Africa |
Helms' statements against AIDS, people who have contracted it, and of gay people in general are nothing new | Indeed, his bigoted opinions on many subjects, including race, integration, public funding for the arts, social justice and other topics, are well documented | Why change his opinion now, just before the release of a new book? Some sort of marketing ploy? Oh, maybe I'm just too cynical |
Jesse Helms regrets where he stood on AIDS funding | "I was wrong," he said in an upcoming book about his outspoken opposition to laws that provided AIDS funding during his tenure in the United States Senate |In the new memoir, “Here’s Where I Stand,” due out Aug. 30, the 83-year-old Republican who retired in 2003 after five terms, explains that his thoughts on the AIDS epidemic began to evolve during his final years in office |
“It had been my feeling that AIDS was a disease largely spread by reckless and voluntary sexual and drug-abusing behavior and that it would probably be confined to those in high risk populations. I was wrong,” he writes in the new book | Says Helms now, “I know of no more heartbreaking tragedy in the world today than the loss of so many young people to a virus that could be stopped if we simply provide more resources” | In an editorial he wrote for the Washington Post three years ago, Helms asked for an additional $500 million in aid money to help initiate preventative care in Africa |
Helms' statements against AIDS, people who have contracted it, and of gay people in general are nothing new | Indeed, his bigoted opinions on many subjects, including race, integration, public funding for the arts, social justice and other topics, are well documented | Why change his opinion now, just before the release of a new book? Some sort of marketing ploy? Oh, maybe I'm just too cynical |
SOURCE: Washington Blade |
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